Category: Event

Tuesday, February 07, 2023

Sea Level Rise – a Real 💩 Storm:
Shellie Habel, PhD
As sea level continues to rise, the functionality of cesspools and other types of onsite sewage disposal systems are being threatened, specifically in low-lying coastal areas. This is occurring both by coastal erosion and groundwater inundation of these systems. Modeling and monitoring by our team and fellow colleagues will make you say “Ewwww”

Cesspools are Poo-pools, What Are We Doodoo-ing About It?💩
Shayla Waiki, MS
Hear about her cesspool dye tracer work as a graduate student and the efforts in outreach and policy the WAI team along with many others are focused on to address this crappy situation.

Making Sanitation Sexy Again
Stuart Coleman, MFA
Stuart Coleman will share his journey from working on plastic pollution and water quality issues at the Surfrider Foundation to starting up our non-profit WAI: Wastewater Alternatives & Innovations, which is focused on reducing sewage pollution in Hawaiʻi. During his time at Surfrider, they started a new project called Civics Is Sexy, which helped introduce hundreds of people to the state’s legislative process and eventually pass landmark bills banning single-use plastics and mandating the closure of all cesspools by 2050.

Nerd Nite Honolulu October 2020 October Nerd Nite 2020!

Our Speakers with short talk abstracts:

Speaker 1: Emily Conklin
Garbage wolves and friendly foxes: Domestication and DNA
The dog-human connection might be one of our best collaborations – how did we change dogs on a molecular level, and how might they have changed us? And what if we tried to do it again? Join us as we explore canine domestication, from paleolithic trash heaps to Russian fox farms.

Speaker 2: Nic Ulm
Getting Wet with Big Wave Energy
Have you ever wondered how we could harness the raw energy of the ebb and flow? Well join me in exploring how that wet pulse of big wave energy can help us explore deep into our oceans for longer than ever before.

Speaker 3: Valentina Alvarez
Plastic in Paradise
Wind patterns and ocean currents combined with Hawaii’s location in the North Pacific Gyre leaves the archipelago exposed to the persistent impact of marine debris. As most of this marine debris originates from other parts of the world, it’s important for us to understand the dynamics of this system so we can do our part to preserve our precious ecosystem and everything that makes Hawaii, Hawaii. In this talk, I will discuss the dangers of plastics, the factors that make Hawaii vulnerable, and what we can do as individuals to act locally yet have a global impact.